cars and cynics
by ipsa dixit
Summary: "You don't like Romeo and Juliet?" "No, I don't appreciate teenagers killing themselves for love and people centuries later romanticising suicide." - seamus has a point. draco is intent on proving him wrong.


_muggle!au, high school!au_

 _prompts at the bottom_

 _2199 words, by gdocs_

* * *

"We should do _Romeo and Juliet_."

Lavender's suggestion is met with a mix of groans and cheers. Seamus is on the groaning side. _Romeo and Juliet_ is — and always will be — too cheesy. Seamus _hates_ _Romeo and Juliet_. He also hates when people in his drama class start fights, so he picks up his stuff and moves from the front of the classroom to the back before all hell breaks loose.

This scenario has happened a few other times: someone suggests a play that their drama class should perform and half of the class hates it and half of the class loves it. Usually, Seamus is on the hating side; he's only taking the class because _Dean_ is taking the class. Dean's took woodshop with Seamus for all four years of high school, though, so it balances out. That's the way their relationship works.

Someone's sitting in the back, already — a blond that Seamus has seen in class a few times, but has never talked to — but Seamus sits down anyway, turning his attention towards the rest of the class.

"I think doing _Romeo and Juliet_ is an excellent idea."

Seamus turns, one eyebrow raised, to the blond. Great. He's sitting next to another doey-eyed drama kid who thinks love is the answer to everything and doesn't realise how _awful_ _Romeo and Juliet_ is — it's hardly even a romance! They both die, for God's sake!

"To each his own," Seamus says instead, pursing his lips and turning back to the brewing argument. His classmates are now arguing, at each other's necks. Dumbledore, their drama teacher, is trying to get them to be quiet — to no avail.

The blond lets out a little scoff, making Seamus snap his head back to him.

"What?"

"You don't like _Romeo and Juliet_?"

Seamus narrows his eyes at him, because who does this guy think he is? He's speaking in such a pretentious tone, as if he _wants_ Seamus to get riled up over some stupid little play.

Well, it's working.

"No, I don't appreciate teenagers killing themselves for love and people centuries later romanticising suicide," Seamus says, turning his whole body. If he's going to get into a fight, he might as well go all in. "I'm Seamus, by the way."

"Draco Malfoy," the blond replies.

Seamus knows the name. _Everybody_ knows the name. Draco Malfoy, son of the famous politician Lucius Malfoy.

"And what's a Malfoy doing in drama class?" Seamus asks, dropping the argument for a second. It's a fair question — drama class is for people who love everything about the theatre. It's for the people who want to be involved in the play. Seamus has been building sets with Dean for all of the plays and Draco Malfoy hasn't been in _any_ of them.

"I needed the credits," Draco explains. Ah. "Plus, I appreciate the classics. Like _Romeo and Juliet_."

Seamus raises his eyebrows. He's doing a good job evading Seamus' question. He _is_ the son of a politician.

"An awful classic," Seamus tuts.

"It's about how love can beat everything," Draco points out, his eyes narrowing at Seamus. Seamus can already tell that this is a person who's used to getting his way. Seamus is excited to knock him down.

"Love is bullshit itself," Seamus rebuts. He's a cynic, sue him. The thing is, he's never seen _any_ proof that love _isn't_ bullshit. He's seen his family be torn apart, he's seen his father act… less than a father.

He has zero reason to believe love isn't bullshit.

"That's really depressing," Draco says, frowning. "Why do you think that?"

Seamus raises an eyebrow. Is this random stranger going to be his therapist now?

"My parents' 'love'" — Seamus inserts air quotes — "didn't work out. I have no reason to believe in love," he says with a shrug.

"I've been there. Trust me. But still — you don't have love for yourself?"

Seamus bites his tongue. He doesn't _want_ love. Can't Draco just leave him alone?

"That's not the point. My point is that _Romeo and Juliet_ doesn't have a healthy relationship. I'm not a fan of that."

Seamus' biggest pet peeve is when people say they want a _Romeo and Juliet_ love story. It was written by _Shakespeare_. Shakespeare wrote _tragedy_. Seamus has seen tragic love stories played out — his parents' marriage was pretty tragic — and he doesn't want that.

"Maybe you're right," Draco says, giving Seamus a little shrug. "I still think that love isn't bullshit, though."

"Prove it," Seamus says. Really, if he continues to bite his tongue like this, he's probably going to bite a hole through it.

Draco raises one eyebrow and is silent for one, two, three moments before saying:

"Fine, let's go on a date. After school."

Seamus furrows his brows, his eyes narrowing. To be fair, he _did_ ask for it.

Exhaling, he says, "Fine," and turns back to his class.

The class is split right down the middle. Half of the class is the side that hates it — Seamus recognises Hermione Granger and Padma Patil. The other half is the side that loves it — people like Lavender Brown, and Dean Thomas. _Of course_ Dean likes the play.

Seamus and Draco stay in the back.

…

When the bell rings, Seamus considers leaving, but he's not _that_ big of a jerk. Instead he goes to the courtyard and looks around for Draco. Draco's swinging keys on a ring when Seamus approaches him.

"So," Seamus says, looking at his watch. "You have three hours to make me believe in love. Go."

Draco squints at him, giving him a small smile.

"Okay."

Seamus follows Draco through the crowds of people to his car, which is bright blue. Draco opens the passenger door for Seamus.

"No," he says.

"What?" Draco says, giving Seamus a weird look as he slides into the driver's seat.

"It's a Mustang. They're flashy for no reason. I'm not getting into a _Mustang_."

Draco raises an eyebrow.

"How do you suggest we drive, then?"

Seamus rolls his eyes, bringing out how own keys from his pocket.

"You assumed I don't have my own car?"

Draco stands back up.

"Fine. Where's your car?"

Seamus smirks — Draco looks slightly worried about just going with Seamus and leaving his car here.

"It's fine. I'll drop you back off here after," Seamus says, crossing the lot to his own car, which is _way_ more his style — it's an old car that he got cheap, but it _works_. That's enough for Seamus. "No one's going to jump your car. That hardly ever happens."

"Have _you_ ever jumped a car?" Draco asks, opening the passenger door gingerly, as if he's going to break it.

Seamus just winks.

…

Draco directs Seamus to a little restaurant outside of town where there's hardly any customers and, well…

The food is nice. _Draco_ is nice. The conversation is good.

But Seamus stands by his point: love is bullshit.

As they near the end of the date, Seamus realises that he actually _likes_ spending time with Draco — he's witty and funny and he's not too bad on the eyes, either. Still, Seamus isn't _in love_ with Draco. Love doesn't spring up on you like that.

Another reason Seamus doesn't like _Romeo and Juliet_. People don't fall in love that easily.

Draco pays their check — Seamus wasn't going to complain when Draco offered! — and they make their way back to Seamus' old car.

"So?" Draco asks, sliding in next to Seamus.

"That was nice," Seamus admits, putting his key in the ignition. "I still don't believe in love, though."

He turns the key once and it sputters, not bringing the engine to life. That's… weird.

"Everything okay?" Draco asks. Seamus looks at him, trying to keep calm. He's not going to freak out about his car taking a little longer to start up.

"Yeah," Seamus says. He turns the key again, and it sputters again. Something settles inside of Seamus' stomach. This can't be happening. With a glance at his watch, Seamus sees that he only has a little over forty minutes to get home before his mother starts wondering where he is.

"Call a company," Seamus says to Draco, popping the hood and getting out of the car. He _knew_ that he should've taken mechanical engineering. He should be able to _fix this_.

He can't see any problem in his hood, though, so he goes back to Draco, who's tapping on his phone.

"Are they coming?" he asks, biting his lip. This is just bloody _perfect_.

"No service," Draco replies, exhaling deeply. Seamus rolls his eyes, running a hand through his hair.

"Oh, well we can just fix it with the power of _love_ ," Seamus snaps at Draco. He knows that it's not Draco's fault his car is acting up. It was only a matter of time before it shut down — Seamus got it _really_ old.

Still, Seamus is bitter because if Draco hadn't insisted that love is the solution to everything and _Romeo and Juliet_ is great they wouldn't be stuck at some random restaurant in the middle of nowhere. _Two years_ of driving his stupid car with Dean and as soon as Draco gets in it, it breaks. Perfect.

"I never said love has some stupid power," Draco says, closing his eyes and rubbing his temple. "I just think that people deserve to be happy with someone in their life. Is that too much to ask for?"

Seamus squints.

"And what if I don't know how to do that?" Seamus asks. How is he supposed to know if someone makes him happy _like that_. His mother believed that his father made her happy and then his father screwed them all over. Excuse Seamus for being a cynic.

"Then you keep on trying until you know it's real."

Draco's glaring at Seamus now, as if it's Seamus' fault that they're stuck in a parking lot. Technically, he _did_ insist that they used his car, but he didn't know that it would _break_.

"And if you never find something real?"

Seamus' question is left unanswered by Draco. With a little scoff, Seamus leans his head back against his car. He won their argument.

It doesn't make him feel any better.

"I don't think anybody is _so_ bad that they don't deserve love. Everyone does," Draco says quietly after a few moments of silence. Seamus doesn't bother to spare him a glance. "Maybe _Romeo and Juliet_ isn't the most ideal love story. I give you that. But they still had the balls to say that they _did_ deserve love, that they deserved each other. Maybe that's why _Romeo and Juliet_ is good."

Seamus is quiet for a few moment before looking at Draco and letting out a sharp laugh.

"We're stuck in the middle of nowhere without any way to get home and you're still arguing about _Romeo and Juliet_?"

Draco shrugs.

"We're not really stuck. We can just ask one of the waiters for help," he points out. Seamus gives him a dark look.

"Thanks for suggesting that earlier."

"I wanted to spend more time with you. I still believe in love," Draco says, raising his eyebrows at Seamus. Seamus shakes his head and rolls his eyes.

"You could've asked me out on another date."

"I didn't think you'd say yes."

Seamus shrugs. _Would_ he have said yes? Twenty minutes ago, he probably would've said no. He probably would've laughed at Draco.

Now?

A second date doesn't seem too bad. It might be nice.

"Let's just get home."

…

The next day, the class is still arguing about what play to do. They need to pick their spring play _now_. There's always a spring play — winter musical, spring play. One argument isn't going to stop their play.

Seamus retreats to the back again, sitting right next to Draco.

"We're probably going to end up doing _Romeo and Juliet_ ," he says in lieu of a greeting. "Dumbledore likes it a lot."

"Are you going to play Romeo?" Draco asks, smirking. Seamus laughs.

"I'm _obviously_ Juliet — no, Rosaline," he replies, leaning back in his chair. Draco raises his eyebrows. "She doesn't die," Seamus says with a shrug.

"I thought you didn't like the play?"

"I had to read it to dislike it," Seamus points out.

"Who's your Romeo?"

Seamus clicks his tongue. "I don't want a Romeo. Romeo's an idiot."

Draco lets out a little hum. "So who's your guy-Rosaline-marries-after-the-play-and-after-Romeo-is-long-dead?" Seamus laughs at Draco's sentence but sobers when he sees Draco looking at him expectantly.

"That's not even a character," Seamus says, frowning at Draco.

"Make it one."

Seamus is still a cynic. He doesn't _know_. Seamus lets out a deep sigh, holding it for a few moments.

"You said you wanted a second date with me?" Seamus asks Draco. Draco nods slowly, shrugging. Seamus raises his eyebrows, waiting.

"Would you like to go out on a date with me?" Draco asks, slightly smiling.

"Sure."

Maybe they wouldn't have a _Romeo and Juliet_ romance. Seamus doesn't want that.

Maybe they'll have something better.

* * *

 _for:_

 _the houses competition [gryffindor, prefect 1, themed - hate]_


End file.
